Most media stock ended a tough week by closing higher on Friday.
During earnings calls, programming companies and cable network owners reported mostly lower than expected advertising sales and raised concerns that delinking pay TV subscriber numbers threaten distribution revenue growth. That sent media stocks plunging Wednesday and most fell again Thursday.
But on Friday, Viacom, which reported the biggest drop in ad revenues, was up 3% to close at $45.47. Fox, which lowered its earnings guidance for 2016 but also announced a $5 billion stock buyback, rose almost 5% to $30.38. Time Warner, Scripps Networks, Walt Disney Co. and Comcast all finished with smaller gains.
CBS, which had lower second-quarter earnings, finished Friday down more than 3% at $40.37. Discovery and Crown Media posted smaller declines.
Starz finished up 4% at $37.34.
Netflix, whose streaming service is blamed for a big part of the ratings problems for traditional TV netowrks, was down 2% to $123.52.
